The péplum (Latin word borrowed from the old word Greek peplon meaning “tunic”), undoubtedly in reference to the film the Tunic (1953) , is one of the kinds of the cinema.

Since the medium of the Years 1950, thanks to the Italian and American péplums, this word indicates films of historical reconstitution of the Antiquité and in particular of the Rome Antique, the ancient Greece and mythological and of the ancient Egypt. There exist also biblical péplums based on the Old one or New Testament.

The word péplum was undoubtedly allotted for the first time by accustomed Ciné-Club Nickelodéon in the Années 1950 to indicate the cinematographic kind of the same name.

According to Claude Aziza - honorary University lecturer of Latin language and literature at the university the Sorbonne News-Paris III - research of the occurrences of the word in the press and the literature indicates an appearance in 1963 in a film enthusiast medium related to the director Bertrand Tavernier (emission Sequence of tenses - France Culture, August 4th, 2007)

It should be noted that in number 68 of the review " CinémAction" (3rd quarter 1993) devoted to the " Panorama of the kinds to the cinéma" , Claude Aziza proposed an outline of definition of the péplum:

" One will call péplum any film from which the subject occurs in an Antiquity that one will make begin at the biblical period and finish at the dawn of the Early middle ages ".

The Italian péplum

Before war

It is with the Italian Cinéma that one owes the invention of the péplum. In the Years 1910, the péplums dumb Italian recreate a Antiquité mythical and mythological. Two realizers are distinguished: Enrico Guazzoni, author of Quo Vadis (1913) and Giovanni Pastrone, author of Cabiria (1914) . In this film one discovers the character of Maciste, interpreted by Bartolomeo Pagano. This character will be the subject of many films whose majority are located at one contemporary time ( Maciste Alpine hunter (1916) or Maciste against the Sheik (1926)). This first golden age of the Italian péplum ends in the middle of the Années 1920 with the arrival of Benito Mussolini with the capacity. In spite of the construction of Cinecittà and the fascistic propaganda built partly on the size of the ancient Rome, the period is hardly favorable to the péplums, except spectacular the Scipion the African of Carmine Braided with the glory of the African reconquest. In France, Julien Duvivier is distinguished in the kind by carrying out biblical the Golgotha with Jean Gabin as a Pontius Pilate (1935).

Years 50-60: the golden age of the Italian péplum

It is Riccardo Freda which makes reappear the péplum in 1952 with Spartacus . In 1955, Kirk Douglas is the Ulysses of Mario Camerini. Always in 1955, Carlo Ludovico Bragagilia carries out Sémiramis slave and queen . The end of the Années 1950 is marked by the success of the Twelve work of Hercules (1957) of Pietro Francisci and the Battle of Marathon (1959) of Jacques Tourneur and Mario Bava. At that time the Americans come to benefit from the studios from Cinecittà and quality from the Italian technicians as Mario Bava to come to turn to Italy of large ancient frescos such as Ben Hur or Cléopâtre (1963) of Joseph Mankiewicz. Anthony Quinn priest his features with the Barabbas of Richard Fleischer in 1962. The fashion is from now on with the péplums and the Italian cinema will benefit from it.

Maciste is ressuscity and with him all the large arm of ancient mythology: many American body-builders incarnate, chest naked, of the legendary heroes like Hercules. The kind knows a very important production of 1960 with 1964. The films sometimes with a budget very limited are built around very simple intrigues dominated by the figure of the hero, incarnation of the good and equipped with a superhuman physical force. Riccardo Freda and Vittorio Cottafavi excels there. Hercules with the conquest of Atlantis in 1961 of Vittorio Cottafavi, Romulus and Rémus in 1962 of Sergio Corbucci, Maciste in hell in 1962 of Riccardo Freda, are quite representative of the kind. In 1963, the fantastic variations of Jason and Argonautes of Gift Chaffey, thanks to fakings of Ray Harryhausen will initiate the Fantasy with the cinema, ancestor of the futures Conan the Barbarian and others Kalidor of the Années 1980. A humorous variation of the kind makes conspicuous in 1961 with the European coproduction the Removal of Sabines of Richard Pottier where Francis Blanche is tested for the only time in this field in a short-sighted role of Romain.

But with the exit of For a handle of dollars in 1964, the Spaghetti western replaces the péplum and the kind however prolific disappears abruptly from the Italian screens.

Perhaps inspired by the ancient fresco amorale of the Satyricon of Fellini of 1969, the wave with erotic film success of the Années 1970 allows a resurrection of the kind: the Roman orgies are the heart of these films and Caligula is often put there in scene. Messaline, Empress and whore of Sergio Corbucci leave in 1977 and in 1979, the Cannes festival discovers Caligula of Tinto Brass. Many a péplums erotic is produced until in the Années 1980.

Some péplums famous of reference

External bonds

  • to download '' Hercules '' of Pietro Francisci (1958)

For a more complete list…

  • in the chronological order: *dans the alphabetical order: *par realizers: *par actresses: *par actors:

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